Greta Van Fleet frontman Josh Kiszka came out in June, and though he says he was concerned that his revelation would put "a target on [his] back," he now tells Rolling Stone the band's fans have been nothing but loving and accepting.
"I was really concerned," Kiszka tells Rolling Stone. But he notes, "Everything had been met with love and acceptance and humility and respect, and that was a huge wave of reassurance that things are moving in the right direction.”
"As a performer and as an entertainer, a huge weight was lifted," he adds. "Because ultimately as an artist or just as a person, we all want to be understood to some degree.”
In fact, a month after the singer came out, the band played their home state of Tennessee — whose recent legislation inspired Kiszka to speak up — and the fans waved rainbow flags and organized a rainbow light show with their cellphones.
"The fact that that many people could communicate and coordinate to make that happen was extraordinary,” he says. “It was really difficult for me to keep it together."
Kiszka tells Rolling Stone one reason he wanted to come out was because “I didn’t want kids that are part of the LGBTQIA+ communities to feel like they’re victims or that they should be frightened." Older people, however, appreciated his gesture as well. Kiszka relates a comment that a 60-something GVF fan wrote online.
“He said, ‘You know, as a gay man, when I was younger, it would have made my life a lot easier if a lot of my heroes like Freddie Mercury or Elton John had come out earlier. It would have saved me a lot of strife,’” Kiska recalls.